‘I don’t see…’: Gautam Gambhir drops a big hint on India’s head coach post – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Former opener India Gautam Gambhir remained evasive when questioned about his potential appointment as the next head coach of the national side, stating, “I don’t see that far ahead.”

The 42-year-old was speaking at an event organized by the Indian Chambers of Commerce in Kolkata on Friday.

Earlier this week, Gambhir participated in a virtual interview with the BCCI’s Cricket Advisory Committee. Many believe he is the frontrunner to take over from current head coach Rahul Dravid, whose tenure is set to conclude after the ongoing T20 World Cup.

Despite his recent success as a team mentor, playing a key role in KKR’s third IPL title win, Gambhir refused to comment on his prospects.

“I don’t see that far ahead. You are grilling me, asking me all tough questions,” Gambhir, as quoted by PTI, said.

“It is difficult to answer right now. All I can say is that I’m happy being here, just finished a brilliant journey (and) let’s enjoy that. I’m in a very happy space right now,” Gambhir said at a ‘Rise To Leadership’ seminar.

Gambhir emphasized that prioritizing the team over individual players forms the foundation of his approach to coaching.

“If you have the intent of keeping your team ahead of any individual, things will fall in place. If not today, tomorrow, if not tomorrow, someday it will fall in place,” he said.

“But if you start thinking on that, or if you know that you need to help one or two individuals perform, then your team will only suffer.”

“My job is not to make individuals perform. My job, as a mentor, is to make KKR win,” said Gambhir who was praised all over for his role in KKR’s winning run this year.

“For me, the guru mantra is team first philosophy. I think team-first ideology, team-first philosophy is the most important ideology in any team sport,” he added.

Gambhir said KKR’s near-flawless run in the tournament can be credited to the team’s cohesive and leadership-driven environment.

“Yes I was the leader but all of us in the dressing room made the change. it was about making Kolkata proud. It was morale responsibility for me to give something back to Kolkata,” he said.

The ex-cricket player, who had the opportunity to lead the Indian team in several matches, emphasized that his philosophy revolves around giving equal treatment to all players within the team.

“In a team sport, it’s the team that matters the most. Individuals do play a role, individuals do contribute,” he said.

“But I think if 11 people are treated equally, if 11 people have equal respect, if everyone is treated equally, given the same respect, same responsibility, same honour, you will achieve an unbelievable amount of success.

“You cannot have discrimination in a set up or in an organisation,” he added.

He expressed no regrets about his relatively short tenure as the captain of the Indian cricket team. Despite the brevity of his leadership role, he remained content with his contributions to the team during his time at the helm.

“I have always thought about performing for the fans, and that has been my thought since the last year of my training career. In the middle, I got this honour of captaining India for six games. I tried doing it to the best of my ability,” he said.

“Otherwise, I have no regrets whatsoever because my job was not to captain the series. My job was to make my country win, and whichever team I play for, make that team win,” he added.

Gambhir does have one regret though.

“I wish I had finished that game,” he said referring to the 2011 World Cup final in which then skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni scored the winning runs.

“It was my job to finish the game, rather than leaving someone to finish the game. If I had to turn back the clock, I would go back there and score the last run, irrespective of how many runs I scored,” added the left-hander, who scored 97 runs in that epic clash against Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium.